Articles

Sphingosine 1-phosphate levels in cerebrospinal fluid after subarachnoid hemorrhage

Sphingosin-1-phosphate (S1P) plays a crucial role as a signaling molecule in the immune system and the vasculature. Previous studies suggested a role as a vasoconstrictor of cerebral arteries via the S1P3-Rece...

Authors: Anika Männer, Dominique Thomas, Marlies Wagner, Jürgen Konczalla, Helmuth Steinmetz, Robert Brunkhorst and Waltraud Pfeilschifter

Impact of the COVID-19-pandemic on thrombectomy services in Germany

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have altered emergency workflows established to optimize the outcome of patients with large-vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke.

Authors: Steffen Tiedt, Felix J. Bode, Timo Uphaus, Anna Alegiani, Klaus Gröschel and Gabor C. Petzold

Safety and efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis in stroke patients on prior antiplatelet therapy in the WAKE-UP trial

One quarter to one third of patients eligible for systemic thrombolysis are on antiplatelet therapy at presentation. In this study, we aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis in str...

Authors: Benedikt M. Frey, Florent Boutitie, Bastian Cheng, Tae-Hee Cho, Martin Ebinger, Matthias Endres, Jochen B. Fiebach, Jens Fiehler, Ian Ford, Ivana Galinovic, Alina Königsberg, Josep Puig, Pascal Roy, Anke Wouters, Tim Magnus, Vincent Thijs…

Comparison of stroke care parameters in acute ischemic stroke patients with and without concurrent Covid-19. A Nationwide analysis

Comparing health care parameters of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with and without concurrent coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2 infection), may be helpful in terms of optimizing clinical an...

Authors: Daniel Richter, Christos Krogias, Jens Eyding, Dirk Bartig, Armin Grau and Ralph Weber

German guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of neurosyphilis

In view of the importance of neurosyphilis and the difficulties encountered in diagnosing it, the S1 guideline “Neurosyphilis” has been published by the German Society for Neurology (DGN) in accordance with th...

Authors: Matthias Klein, Klemens Angstwurm, Stefan Esser, Kathrin Hahn, Matthias Maschke, Simone Scheithauer, Helmut Schoefer, Matthias Sturzenegger, Brigitte Wildemann and Jörg Weber

Decreased admissions and change in arrival mode in patients with cerebrovascular events during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic

Investigating clinical characteristics of patients presenting with cerebrovascular events during the pandemic may provide valuable insight into further understanding the phenomenon of decreased stroke admissio...

Authors: Carolin Hoyer, Lenja Weber, Vesile Sandikci, Anne Ebert, Michael Platten and Kristina Szabo

Collateral damages in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemia– two cases

At present, “severe acute respiratory syndrome new coronavirus” (SARS-CoV-2) affects the whole world and has led to a pandemia with almost 2.000.000 infected patients in the mid of April 2020 (WHO). Thus, heal...

Authors: Christian Urbanek, Jana Kötteritzsch, Wolfgang Zink and Armin J. Grau

A machine learning-based classification approach on Parkinson’s disease diffusion tensor imaging datasets

The presence of motor signs and symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the result of a long-lasting prodromal phase with an advancing neurodegenerative process. The identification of PD patients in an early p...

Authors: Jannik Prasuhn, Marcus Heldmann, Thomas F. Münte and Norbert Brüggemann

Printed by Parkinson’s: a neurological art project linking patient stories and biosignals

“Printed by Parkinson’s” is an innovative project with the main aim to raise awareness for the many aspects of Parkinson’s disease and their implication for everyday life. In a cooperation of Innocean Worldwid...

Authors: Lucia K. Feldmann and Andrea A. Kühn

Disease modifying treatment trials in Parkinson’s disease: how to balance expectations and interests of patients, physicians and industry partners?

The advent of therapeutic strategies designed to modify the disease course in Parkinson’s disease has raised great expectations in the currently conducted clinical trials. However, we see ethical challenges in...

Authors: D. Berg, K. Eggert, B. Haslinger, J. Kassubek, B. Mollenhauer, K. Reetz, A. Rogge, E. Schaeffer, L. Tönges and K. E. Zeuner

Outcome measures and treatment effectiveness in late onset myasthenia gravis

Recently different subtypes of myasthenia gravis (MG) have been described. They differ for clinical features and pathogenesis but the prognosis and response to treatment is less clear. The aim of the study was...

Authors: Francesca Pasqualin, Silvia V. Guidoni, Mario Ermani, Elena Pegoraro and Domenico M. Bonifati

Combined subthalamic and nucleus basalis of Meynert deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease with dementia (DEMPARK-DBS): protocol of a randomized, sham-controlled trial

Dementia in Parkinson’s disease (PDD) is a common non-motor symptom of advanced disease, associated with pronounced neocortical cholinergic deficits due to neurodegeneration of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (...

Authors: Christine Daniels, Frank Steigerwald, Philipp Capetian, Cordula Matthies, Uwe Malzahn, Peter U. Heuschmann and Jens Volkmann

Severe pneumonia with formation of a pulmonary cavity associated with long-term rituximab therapy in multiple sclerosis

Nowadays B-cell depletion via anti-CD20 antibodies is commonly applied in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Yet, not much is known about infection risks associated with long-term B-cell depletion in th...

Authors: Carolin Schwake and Ralf Gold

Dural tear from diagnostic lumbar puncture followed by long-term morbidity: a case report

Lumbar punctures are performed in different medical settings and are a key procedure in the diagnosis of several neurological conditions. Complications are rare and generally self-limiting. There are no report...

Authors: Aleksander Fjeld Haugstvedt, Inger Birgitte Havsteen and Hanne Christensen

Historic review: the foundation-period and the first 15 years of the “Gesellschaft fuer Neuropaediatrie” (GNP) between 1950 and 1990

After the end of Nazi terrorism with many crimes against neuropsychiatric and disabled people, from 1950 on detection and treatment of these diseases in children and adolescents grew continuously: in the 50s a...

Authors: Hans Michael Strassburg

Cross-cultural adaption and validation of the German version of the Mini-BESTest in individuals after stroke: an observational study

Postural control is a very important function in everyday life. However, assessing postural control with commonly used measurement instruments (MIs) is limited due to deficits in their psychometric properties....

Authors: Elena Cramer, Franziska Weber, Gilian Faro, Michael Klein, Dennis Willeke, Thomas Hering and Dörte Zietz

Validation of a German version of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective/ Schmahmann Syndrome Scale: preliminary version and study protocol

Traditionally, cerebellar disorders including ataxias have been associated with deficits in motor control and motor learning. Since the 1980’s growing evidence has emerged that cerebellar diseases also impede ...

Authors: Andreas Thieme, Sandra Roeske, Jennifer Faber, Patricia Sulzer, Martina Minnerop, Saskia Elben, Heike Jacobi, Kathrin Reetz, Imis Dogan, Miriam Barkhoff, Juergen Konczak, Elke Wondzinski, Mario Siebler, Oliver Mueller, Ulrich Sure, Jeremy D. Schmahmann…

Lack of cerebellar tDCS effects on learning of a complex whole body dynamic balance task in middle-aged (50–65 years) adults

Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is widely considered as a promising non-invasive tool to foster motor performance and learning in health and disease. The results of previous studies, ...

Authors: M. Rauscher, F. Yavari, G. Batsikadze, N. Ludolph, W. Ilg, M. A. Nitsche, D. Timmann and K. M. Steiner

Increased incidence of transient global amnesia during the Covid-19 crisis?

Since the beginning oft he Covid-19 pandemic we have observed an increased incidence of transient global amnesia, possibly related to emotional stress as a trigger factor.

Authors: Ralph Werner, Moritz Keller and Johannes C. Woehrle

Gene specific therapies – the next therapeutic milestone in neurology

Gene selective approaches that either correct a disease mutation or a pathogenic mechanism will fundamentally change the treatment of neurological disorders. Basically, gene specific therapies are designed to ...

Authors: David Brenner, Albert C. Ludolph and Jochen H. Weishaupt

Historic review: a short history of neuropediatrics in Germany between 1850 and 1950

Since the middle of the nineteenth century, there has been increasing knowledge about the diagnosis and therapy of diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system and muscle in children. The leading caus...

Authors: Hans Michael Strassburg

Vojta therapy improves postural control in very early stroke rehabilitation: a randomised controlled pilot trial

It is still unclear, which physiotherapeutic approaches are most effective in stroke recovery. Vojta therapy is a type of physiotherapy that was originally developed for children and adolescents with cerebral ...

Authors: Corina Epple, Barbara Maurer-Burkhard, Mari-Carmen Lichti and Thorsten Steiner

Letter to the editor: risk comorbidities of COVID-19 in Parkinson’s disease patients in Germany

Authors: Daniel Richter, Dirk Bartig, Christos Krogias and Lars Tönges

Symptoms and probabilistic anatomical mapping of lacunar infarcts

The anatomical distribution of acute lacunar infarcts has mainly been studied for supratentorial lesions. In addition, little is known about the association with distinct stroke symptoms, not summarized as cla...

Authors: Ewgenia Barow, Hans Pinnschmidt, Florent Boutitie, Alina Königsberg, Martin Ebinger, Matthias Endres, Jochen B. Fiebach, Jens Fiehler, Vincent Thijs, Robin Lemmens, Keith W. Muir, Norbert Nighoghossian, Salvador Pedraza, Claus Z. Simonsen, Christian Gerloff, Götz Thomalla…

Bridging therapy is associated with improved cognitive function after large vessel occlusion stroke – an analysis of the German Stroke Registry

The targeted use of endovascular therapy (EVT), with or without intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in acute large cerebral vessel occlusion stroke (LVOS) has been proven to be superior compared to IVT alone. Despi...

Authors: Philipp Ettelt, Ilko L. Maier, Marlena Schnieder, Mathias Bähr, Daniel Behme, Marios-Nikos Psychogios and Jan Liman

Diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy represents a spectrum of diseases with different etiologies. The most common causes are diabetes, exposure to toxic substances including alcohol and chemotherapeutics, immune-mediated con...

Authors: Helmar C. Lehmann, Gilbert Wunderlich, Gereon R. Fink and Claudia Sommer

Guillain-Barré syndrome and SARS-CoV-2

Since January 2020, after Chinese health authorities identified a new type of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the virus has spread throughout China and consecutively throughout the whole world. The most common sympt...

Authors: Anne Lampe, Alexander Winschel, Cornelie Lang and Thorsten Steiner

German hospital capacities for prolonged mechanical ventilator weaning in neurorehabilitation – results of a representative survey

A brief survey among members of the German Neurorehabilitation Society aimed to document the hospital capacities (“beds”) for prolonged weaning from a mechanical ventilator for patients with neuro-disabilities...

Authors: Thomas Platz, Andreas Bender, Christian Dohle, Anna Gorsler, Stefan Knecht, Joachim Liepert, Thomas Mokrusch and Michael Sailer

Recovery from stroke: current concepts and future perspectives

Stroke is a leading cause of acquired, permanent disability worldwide. Although the treatment of acute stroke has been improved considerably, the majority of patients to date are left disabled with a considera...

Authors: Christian Grefkes and Gereon R. Fink

Guideline “diagnosis and non interventional therapy of neuropathic pain” of the German Society of Neurology (deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie)

2019 the DGN (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurology) published a new guideline on the diagnosis and non-interventional therapy of neuropathic pain of any etiology excluding trigeminal neuralgia and CRPS (complex...

Authors: Tanja Schlereth

PIMIDES I: a pilot study to assess the feasibility of patient-controlled neurostimulation with the EASEE® system to treat medically refractory focal epilepsy

The study design of PIMIDES, a trial based on patient-individualized transcranial electric neurostimulation of epileptic foci, is reported. Inclusion criteria include a predominant epileptic focus and pharmaco...

Authors: Kristina Kravalis and Andreas Schulze-Bonhage

How to use and assess qualitative research methods

This paper aims to provide an overview of the use and assessment of qualitative research methods in the health sciences. Qualitative research can be defined as the study of the nature of phenomena and is especial...

Authors: Loraine Busetto, Wolfgang Wick and Christoph Gumbinger

Optical coherence tomography-based assessment of retinal vascular pathology in cerebral small vessel disease

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a disorder of brain vasculature that causes various structural changes in the brain parenchyma, and is associated with various clinical symptoms such as cognitive impair...

Authors: A. Abdelhak, A. Huss, A. Brück, U. Sebert, B. Mayer, H. P. Müller, H. Tumani, M. Otto, D. Yilmazer-Hanke, A. C. Ludolph, J. Kassubek, E. Pinkhardt and H. Neugebauer

Changed functional connectivity at rest in functional illiterates after extensive literacy training

About 6.2 million adults in Germany cannot read and write properly despite attending school for several years. They are considered to be functional illiterates (FI). Since the ability to read and write is cruc...

Authors: Bahram Mohammadi, Thomas F. Münte, David M. Cole, Amir Sami, Melanie Boltzmann and Jascha Rüsseler

Prevention of migraine with monoclonal antibodies against CGRP or the CGRP receptor

Monoclonal antibodies against the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor (Erenumab) or against CGRP (Eptinezumab, Fremanezumab, Galcanezumab) are new substances for the preventive treatment of migrain...

Authors: Hans-Christoph Diener, Stefanie Förderreuther, Charly Gaul, Florian Giese, Till Hamann, Dagny Holle-Lee, Tim P. Jürgens, Katharina Kamm, Torsten Kraya, Christian Lampl, Arne May, Uwe Reuter, Armin Scheffler and Peer Tfelt-Hansen

Protocol for a multicenter observational prospective study of functional recovery from stroke beyond inpatient rehabilitation - The Interdisciplinary Platform for Rehabilitation Research and Innovative Care of Stroke Patients (IMPROVE)

Stroke and its long-term consequences pose major challenges for the lives of those affected and healthcare systems. Neurological rehabilitation therefore primarily attempts to improve function in order to incr...

Authors: Gunnar Birke, Silke Wolf, Thies Ingwersen, Christian Bartling, Gabriele Bender, Alfons Meyer, Achim Nolte, Katharina Ottes, Oliver Pade, Martin Peller, Jochen Steinmetz, Christian Gerloff and Götz Thomalla

Inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the “standardized endoscopic swallowing evaluation for tracheostomy decannulation in critically ill neurologic patients”

Removal of a tracheostomy tube in critically ill neurologic patients is a difficult issue, particularly due to the high incidence of oropharyngeal dysphagia. For an objective evaluation of decannulation readin...

Authors: Tobias Warnecke, Paul Muhle, Inga Claus, Jens B. Schröder, Bendix Labeit, Sriramya Lapa, Sonja Suntrup-Krueger and Rainer Dziewas

S1 guidelines “lumbar puncture and cerebrospinal fluid analysis” (abridged and translated version)

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is important for detecting inflammation of the nervous system and the meninges, bleeding in the area of the subarachnoid space that may not be visualized by imaging, and the ...

Authors: H. Tumani, H. F. Petereit, A. Gerritzen, C. C. Gross, A. Huss, S. Isenmann, S. Jesse, M. Khalil, P. Lewczuk, J. Lewerenz, F. Leypoldt, N. Melzer, S. G. Meuth, M. Otto, K. Ruprecht, E. Sindern…

Verum versus sham tDCS in the treatment of stroke-induced apraxia: study protocol of the randomized controlled trial RAdiCS -“Rehabilitating (stroke-induced) Apraxia with direct Current Stimulation”

Stroke is the leading cause of acquired disability in western societies. (Motor) cognitive deficits like apraxia significantly contribute to disability after stroke, harming activities of daily living and reha...

Authors: Nina N. Kleineberg, Monika K. Richter, Ingrid Becker, Peter H. Weiss and Gereon R. Fink

Neurological research and practice: the first year

Authors: Werner Hacke

Antibody-related movement disorders – a comprehensive review of phenotype-autoantibody correlations and a guide to testing

Over the past decade increasing scientific progress in the field of autoantibody–mediated neurological diseases was achieved. Movement disorders are a frequent and often prominent feature in such diseases whic...

Authors: Felix Gövert, Frank Leypoldt, Ralf Junker, Klaus-Peter Wandinger, Günther Deuschl, Kailash P. Bhatia and Bettina Balint

Remarkable improvement of primary orthostatic tremor using perampanel

Management of primary orthostatic tremor (POT) remains challenging, and medication is often ineffective.

Authors: Marcus Grobe-Einsler and Oliver Kaut

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) in a patient with celiac disease

We present the case of an 18 year old Caucasian with known celiac disease, who suffered a severe first attack of acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) with neuropsychiatric symptoms, severe tetraparesis and respi...

Authors: Sebastian Nunnemann, Christoph Uibel, Petra Budig and Mathias Mäurer

SOP: antibody-associated autoimmune encephalitis

Antibody-mediated and paraneoplastic autoimmune encephalitides (AE) present with a broad spectrum of clinical symptoms. They often lead to progressing inflammatory changes of the central nervous system with su...

Authors: Rosa Rössling and Harald Prüss

Autoimmune encephalitis in children and adolescents

Autoimmune encephalitides with neural and glial antibodies have become an attractive field in neurology because the antibodies are syndrome-specific, explain the pathogenesis, indicate the likelihood of an und...

Authors: C. G. Bien and C. I. Bien

Second look Holter ECG in neurorehabilitation

Many stroke survivors suffer recurrent stroke because paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) was missed and no preventive anticoagulation initiated. This prospective cohort study determined the added diagnostic y...

Authors: Stefan Knecht, Sebastian Petsch, Paulus Kirchhof and Bettina Studer

Signatures of immune reprogramming in anti-CD52 therapy of MS: markers for risk stratification and treatment response

Multiple sclerosis is one of the most prevalent neurological diseases in young adults affecting over 2 million people worldwide. Alemtuzumab is a highly effective therapy in relapsing remitting MS. Alemtuzumab...

Authors: Laura Bierhansl, Tobias Ruck, Steffen Pfeuffer, Catharina C. Gross, Heinz Wiendl and Sven G. Meuth

Inpatient TIA and stroke care in adult patients in Germany - retrospective analysis of nationwide administrative data sets of 2011 to 2017

Comprehensive administrative data on TIA and stroke cases and treatment modalities are fundamental for improving structural conditions and adjusting future strategies of stroke care.

Authors: Jens Eyding, Dirk Bartig, Ralph Weber, Aristeidis H. Katsanos, Christian Weimar, Werner Hacke and Christos Krogias

Anodal tDCS over left parietal cortex expedites recovery from stroke-induced apraxic imitation deficits: a pilot study

To date, specific therapeutic approaches to expedite recovery from apraxic deficits after left hemisphere (LH) stroke remain sparse. Thus, in this pilot study we evaluated the effect of anodal transcranial dir...

Authors: Jana M. Ant, Eva Niessen, Elisabeth I. S. Achilles, Jochen Saliger, Hans Karbe, Peter H. Weiss and Gereon R. Fink

Neuro-Sweet syndrome - a rare differential diagnosis in aseptic meningoencephalitis

Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet‘s syndrome) is a dermatological entity, which may be associated with malignancies, drugs, and infections and which is characterized by high fever, elevated neutroph...

Authors: Elgin Hoffmann, Christian Boßelmann, Stephan Forchhammer, Holger Lerche and Tobias Freilinger